


End of all Things

by Casstea



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Apocalypse, M/M, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 19:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/871259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casstea/pseuds/Casstea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The apocalypse, James considered, was rather tedious.</p><p>(Z Day separated James and Q. Now they have to find each other in a dying world.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	End of all Things

**Author's Note:**

> For seekingsanctuary who prompted "It was all rather tedious, this apocalypse business." Zombies, Q and Bond are separated for a long time and assume the other is dead." I hope you like it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own James Bond, this is written for fun and not for profit.
> 
> Title is taken from LoTR: The Return of the King.

_Date - Mid October 2013 (Z-Day + 3 Months)_

_I don’t know how we’re surviving, but we’re managing it._

_Food supplies are low, but the Green Team are managing to make something grow finally. Maybe in a month or so we will have fresh food again. That will be nice._

_Families come in with every Scouting Run. Some of them are barely a few years old, terrified of the world around them. There are those who look far older than they should, we had one group come in today that was led by a sixteen year old girl, although I could have sworn she looked as worn as any field agent I’ve seen._

_Sanitation is still a problem, but I am hoping it will be sorted. Some of the agents are thinking of trying to make a stronghold outside MI6, but I haven’t yet given them the green light. At the moment, we have strength in numbers and we are protected within these walls._

_As of yet we have no idea how the infection is spreading. Some rumours say bites, others say by the water supplies. We hope to find a cure soon, something to inoculate ourselves against the madness._

_In the meantime, we just simply survive._

x-x-x

The apocalypse, James considered, was rather tedious.

Oh, sure it had been interesting at first, when the zombies had first risen out of the ground to try and munch on brains. James had been in China at the time on a mission when he had first met a dismembered corpse stumble towards him in what had looked like a badly animated _Thriller_ dance routine. He had emptied an entire magazine of bullets into the monster before realising that it wouldn’t kill it.

Apparently zombies only died when you sliced their heads off. James only realised this when he had escaped the factory to find the men he had taken down on the way in where also joining in on the _Thriller_ dance routine walk and accidently sliced one of the heads off with a sharp piece of metal.

Well, technically, it wasn’t just decapitation that worked. Any sort of serious damage to the head would stop it. So far James had only tested out explosion, crushing, bullets, andone memorable time had sent a zombie through a wood chipper.

Now, after nearly six months, he was standing on a boat heading towards England. Grey cloud covered the sky, and a gentle sea mist was rising up from the water around him. The plan was to make landfall just as dawn broke and scope out the area.

 _Then to London,_ James thought, revving the tiny outboard motor as he crashed through the waves, _to see what still exists of civilization._

x-x-x

_Date - November 2013 (Z-Day + 4 Months)_

_A girl turned today inside the building._

_We have a screening program in place, but she was only showing the signs of exhaustion and dehydration, not the high fever and shakes that accompany one who is infected. Luckily she was only in the medical labs, and realised what was happening to her before she was released into the main halls._

_According to 009, she begged to die before she turned. She will be burnt along with the others on the top of the building at the end of today. Some say the zombies will just follow the light, but we haven’t had any reports of intelligence from them. I like to think that the fires are the one last act of defence we can give to a world which is trying to kill us all._

_This is the true cost of the apocalypse. Buildings we can re make, food we can re grow. Cultures can be found again even if they are lost under miles of dust._

_But these memories can never be removed. They will haunt us all for the rest of our lives._

x-x-x

It took James a good few weeks to realise just how bad the apocalypse had hit Britain.

It was when he had fought his way through a street of blood thirsty monsters and holed himself up in the wreckages of a family home that the realisation sunk in. Sure, he had seen the wanton destruction on his journey home, but this was different. This was _his country,_ once which had been so vibrant and full of _life,_ now desolate like the ghost town he had walked through on his journey home.

The pounding on the wooden door stopped. Clearly the zombies had become bored of trying to turn James into a meal and wandered off to find a new source of food. James shut his eyes, sinking back into the broken plaster and crumbling walls. Damp hung in the air around him, and the light which came in through the cracks in the ceiling barely illuminated the small hallway James had found himself lying in.

_Creak._

James’ reaction to the sound was instinctive, rolling away and pulling out his weapon from his jacket pocket with a practised ease.

“Whose there?” he asked, his voice rough and dry from the day’s trek.

A figure crept out of the shadows towards him. James held his gun steady, ready to fire at a moment’s notice if the figure turned out to be another zombie.

It was a kid, a girl, who couldn’t have been more than 19 at best.

“What you doing in our house?” she said. James noted the knife in her hand, held with a confidant grip that suggested she had used it to defend herself before.

“Zombies,” James said, not lowering his weapon as the girl crept forward.

“Figured,” the girl said, “did you lock it?”

“It might be the reason my brains are not splattered over the walls,” James remarked, lowering his gun. It was clear the girl was not a zombie, and if she didn’t want brains then she wouldn’t be a threat.

He hoped.

“Why did they leave anyway?” James asked.

“I got Henry to chuck some meat over the road,” the girl replied, sheathing the knife in what looked like a home-made sheath and holding out her hand, “I’m Kayla.”

“Nice to meet you Kayla,” James said. He had met cells of survivors before, those who had fought off the attacks and managed to stay alive in the destroyed remnants of the world. Some were friendly, whereas others treated him worse than the zombies. It was as if they had entered a pack mentality to survive the horrors that surrounded them, refusing to admit new members who wandered into their village.

“Come with me,” Kayla said, abruptly turning up away from James and walking up the narrow stairs. James followed, tensing up for any surprise attacks that they could pounce on him.

Kayla led him through a maze of corridors, some of which had been crudely made to bridge the gaps between the neighbouring houses. He spotted some places where the floorboards had been removed to make a drop of nearly two floors down.

“Just in case they break in,” Kayla said in a very matter of fact tone as she noted James’ interest, shuffling around the side of the trick floorboards, “I don’t want my brain eaten. None of us do.”

“There’s more of you?”

“Twelve,” Kayla said, “Lucy is the one who runs this joint, then it’s Niahl, Kary, Ben who are the second in commands,”

“And you?” James asked.

“Me?” Kayla smirked, as if amused, “I only just go here two weeks back. I’m door girl.”

“Two weeks?” James asked, “what where you doing before then?”

“Surviving,” she remarked shortly.

 _I know how you feel,_ James thought. He had been on missions before when he had been left to defend for himself, but this was something totally different. This was the destruction of the entire world in a few months by the species which had carved out its place on it for millions of years. It was the constant question of _why should I stay alive?_ that burned in the back of every living person’s mind.

For James it was Q. He had to find out what happened to Q. A stupid quest some might say, but it was what drove James every day he faced the struggle to get through the day without being turned into a monster.

Kayla and James walked in silence for the rest of the journey, winding deeper into the temporary structure Kayla’s friends had constructed from the abandoned houses. Here and there James spotted an abandoned teddy or a broken photograph, now dusted with grey and abandoned just like everything from _before._

“We’re here,” Kayla said, as they stopped abruptly in front of the door, “if you do anything dodgy, we’ll kill you.”

“Delightful,” James muttered. Not that he doubted his abilities from being an agent, but recently those who were still _thinking_ tended to have survived because they were better at killing other things.

Sometimes even other people.

Kalya opened the door, allowing James to step through into the small room. Paper covered every wall, with thin bits of string connecting each part to the other. A small wooden desk, and mismatched chairs were in the middle of the room, behind which a woman sat. James thought she looked like a younger version of Eve, with the fierce look in her eyes and dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

“You must be Lucy,” James smiled, trying to not look threatening. Lucy couldn’t have been more than four or five years Kayla’s elder, although there was a dark look in her brown eyes which suggested that she had seen things in the past few months which had aged her faster than time ever could.

“You shouldn’t have bought him here,” Lucy said to Kayla, totally ignoring James. James tried not to show his displeasure, after all he was their guest, and he was playing by their rules.

 _Find Q,_ James thought.

“What was I supposed to do with him?” Kayla protested sharply, “leave him to get his brain munched?”

“Not bring him here,” Lucy said, “you could have just left him in the corridor.”

“He might be able to help us-” Kalya stuttered as Lucy held up her hand.

“No one can help us,” Lucy said, voice harsh.

“Look,” James interrupted, “I might be able to help you-”

“ _51°29′13.9″N 0°07′26.6″W,”_ Lucy said suddenly. James froze as he recognised the format, coordinates. If his memory served him correct, it was somewhere in London.

“What about it?” James asked.

“Do you know where it is?” Lucy said.

“London,” James replied, “although without a map I couldn’t say for sure.”

“London?” Kayla repeated, sounding hopeful.

“What’s this about?” James asked.

“You don’t know?” Lucy frowned suspiciously at James. Kayla fiddled with her knife nervously in his peripheral vision.

 _I’ve been away for far too long,_ James thought.

“I’ve been out of it for a few days,” James smiled thinly. These kids wouldn’t have thought that anyone in the local area would have survived, and by the looks of it their hideout was designed to be permanent.

“Few days?” Lucy questioned.

“I just got back,” James continued, watching both of the girls carefully, “to England.”

“You came from _abroad?”_ Kayla spluttered “that’s impossible.”

“So I gather,” James remarked dryly.

“You’re lying,” Lucy said, “no one can come from abroad.”

“I can,”

“Prove it,” Lucy retorted.

“The world is broken,” James said, “I’ve come across pockets of survivals just like yourself, each of them seeming to think that they’re the only ones alive. However, your group is different.”

“How so?” Kayla questioned, intrigued.

“This,” James said, waving his hand to the papers which covered all the sides of the room, “I haven’t come across anything like this before. Most people survive, not plan.”

“We’re not planning,” Lucy said quickly.

James raised an eyebrow.

“I know you’re lying,” James said gently, “this is a plan to get somewhere.”

“Why do you say that?” Lucy asked.

“Because you’re desperate,” James said, “and clearly you’re interested in finding something out. The cause of the zombies?”

“No,” Lucy said, standing up slowly and walking over to the corner of the room and plucking a piece of paper from the wall before walking over to James and handing it to him.

“These fell all over the town two months back,” she said as James took the paper, peering at it. On it was a small line of text, written in the smallest font possible.

_You are not alone. Information is useful. 51°29′13.9″N 0°07′26.6″W._

“Pretty odd huh?” Lucy said, “thousands of these were dropped all over the place. Of course the Munchers just ignored them-”

“Munchers?” James asked.

“Zombies,” Kayla explained, “we change their name every four weeks so we all know what month it is.”

“Sounds complicated,” James said.

“Desperate,” Lucy remarked, staring James in the eye, “now can you help us?”

“Help you?”

“You said that was in London,” Lucy said, nodding at the piece of paper, “my thinking is you know where it is.”

“I’m not sure-”

“If you survived getting back from abroad,” Lucy said, “you can help us get to London.”

“Why?” James asked, “you seem pretty set up here.”

“There have been rumours,” Lucy said, “as well as that bit of paper. Rumours that say there is a place in London, run off the radar, which is safe. They even have medicines there.”

“You can’t trust rumours,” James remarked, “in times like this.”

“I hardly think Q would lie to us,” Kayla remarked.

“Q?” James spun around quickly.

“Yeh,” Kayla said slowly, “you clearly _have_ been away for some time.”

“You’re sure,” James said, staring at Kayla with such an intense gaze the poor girl shuffled a few steps backward, “you’re _sure.”_

“It’s the name that always comes with the rumours,” Lucy said, “why - do you know who he is?”

James smiled.

“Yes,” he replied, “I do know him.”

x-x-x

_Date - November 2013 (Z-Day + 4 Months)_

_Sometimes I ask myself why I take this responsibility on myself._

_I don’t have to lead these people, but there is something inside me that prevents me from relinquishing my position. I am just someone who knows computer code, whose talents lie in the lost world of technology that died when the zombies rose up from the ground._

_When I walked through the hall today, a small girl ran up beside me and handed me a small origami flower. They had made it in the crèche which has been set up in the old offices on the tenth floor. According to the girl, the flower was a present for saving their lives._

_I don’t know where they got that idea from. I am struggling just like everyone else with this terror, this nightmare._

_Today I sent out the flyers in the helicopter. I hope James finds them. I know it is a stupid hope that somehow he has managed to make his way across the globe and back to home, back to me._

_Yet in some ways that stupid hope is better than the image of James joining the throng of groaning monsters which line the streets, feasting on each other’s flesh._

_Come home to me James._

_Please._

x-x-x

They set out at first light.

Zombies hated the daylight more for some reason. Kayla thought it was the fact that they were decaying corpses, and that sunlight would only aid the bacteria living inside their skin to decompose the flesh faster. She was a bright girl, who had been studying Biology at the local university on Z day.

She didn’t know if her family was still alive.

James acted as a scout, looking out for any zombies that might walk into their path. Lucy followed closely, not trusting him fully that he would be able to get them to London in one piece.

 _To be honest,_ James thought _I don’t know if I’ll make it._

It was only the thought that Q was still alive which drove him on.

Their group was small and very bedraggled looking. The eldest was an ex-doctor named Mark who was thirty five. James hadn’t spoken many words to the man, who had eyed him with more suspicion than the younger members.

 _Maybe it’s just because they’re more desperate,_ James thought. His eyes scanned the abandoned buildings, each step was calculated, waiting for an attack to come. Luckily they were near the edge of the town, and it would only take half an hour to get out into the fields where they would be safer. Zombies seemed to stick to the built up areas as opposed to the fields where there was a less dense population to feed off.

 _And yet we’re going into the centre,_ James thought, _into the heart of the storm on a rumour that Q is still alive._

James gritted his teeth. He knew it was unhealthy to cling to the rumour too strongly, to rely on mere words that had whispered around those who still lived. He half expected to arrive in London to an army of the living dead waiting for him, arms outstretched to welcome him and his small group into their deadly embrace.

“We’ll be fine,” James whispered out loud, more to comfort himself than anyone else. Winter was on its way, and soon the cold would start sapping the remaining strength out of his already weakened band.

 _We’ll make it,_ James thought to himself, _we have to._

x-x-x

_Date - December 2013 (Z Day + 5 months)_

_We’re going to have to start cutting down on the patrols soon. Even the 00s are suffering in this environment, and they have been in some of the toughest conditions known to us before Z-day. We will have to hole up for the winter, and re-emerge in the spring to re-evaluate how the world is coping. Maybe the winter will kill some of the zombies I cannot be sure._

_This final patrol is my last hope to find James. If not, I will have to assume he has passed on into the next world and grieve like the others who have lost their family._

_I’m not sure if I could manage that, after all the thought of seeing James again is the only reason I have not left this dying world yet._

x-x-x

London was a ghost of is former self.

James hated it as they wandered from their temporary safe house, creeping out into the streets. Their progress had slowed dramatically since they had hit the urban areas, but a lucky find by Lucy had led them to a disused Land Rover that had eaten up a few of the miles.

The Land Rover was now abandoned in a ditch a few miles back.

“How close are we?” Lucy asked, her voice tired and strained. James had to give the girl credit, she was certainly the strongest of their group and he could see why she had been chosen their impromptu leader even though she wasn’t the eldest. James felt tired too, the sheer _emptiness_ of the buildings around him was sapping the little remaining strength he had. Surprisingly, the zombies seemed far fewer the closer they got to the centre of the city, although the remnants of Z day could clearly be seen.

It had only been a few streets back when they had been forced off their planned route by the stench of decaying corpses on the road.

A shadow moving caught James eye.

He held up his hand in a clenched fist, the universal symbol for _stop._ The rest of the group passed the signal down the line, until the final in the line, Mark the doctor, held up two clenched fists in response.

James slid his gun out of his pocket, grasping it firmly. He didn’t want to have to use the bullets if he had to, zombies were better killed with disposable weapons like spikes of wood or iron rods, but if they needed distance a gun would offer them a few seconds before they had to run.

James crept forward to where he had seen the shadow. There was a small alley which led off down the back of the buildings, which had probably once been used to gain access to the back entrance of the empty flats around them.

Then a figure jumped from the shadows.

James reacted instantly, shifting his stance for close range combat. However, instead of being able to throw the other figure off balance, James found himself fighting someone who _knew_ how to defend themselves.

James grappled with the other person for a few seconds, until he regained proper control of his thoughts once more and realised just _who_ he was fighting.

“ Gwen?” he spluttered, releasing the other person. Gwen, or 003, stumbled backwards, giving James a dark look for failing to recognise her earlier.

Then a smile broke across her usual serious look.

“James,” she replied, pulling James into a hug, “thank god you’re alive.”

“It’s good to see you too, Gwen,” James replied, hugging Gwen back. The 00s were not normally a second known for expressing their feelings well, but if the apocalypse could allow one thing it was a hug between comrades.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a small merry band,” Gwen remarked, releasing James as she looked at the rest of James’ group, all tired and worn from the journey to London.

“Whose she?” Lucy asked, raising her eyebrow at James expectantly.

“Old friend,” James explained.

“Did you do martial arts club or something together?” Kayla asked.

“You could say that,” Gwen smiled, turning to James, “we need to get off the street now. I’ve got a squad who are doing the final sweep before we head back down into the underground.”

“Underground?” James said, frowning, “but they’re full of zombies-”

“The places which Q wants fill with zombies,” Gwen remarked. James couldn’t prevent the look of hope cross his face at the mention of his partner.

“Yes,” Gwen said, gently laying her hand on James’ arm, “he’s alive.”

“You sure?” James croaked.

“Seen him with my own two eyes,” Jen replied, “come on, we need to get off the street before we join the Slobbering ranks of the zombies.”

x-x-x

_Date - December 2013 (Z Day + 5 months)_

_The last patrol have called in._

_Apparently James is alive._

x-x-x

As they walked through MI6, James could only marvel at the sheer scale of what Q had achieved in the last few months.

Although it seemed temporary, he could see a clear system in place. First they went through the decontamination zone, then the medical, and then the rounds of interviews designed to test what their skills where. James was quickly separated from the rest of his group, and basically frog marched down into the basement by Gwen. Corridors which had once only allowed those with clearance to pass through were easily swung open. Offices had been turned into small living spaces, with beds lining the floors along the corridor. Even though the people sleeping on the ground seemed grey and tired, there was a district feeling of _hope_ that James had not felt in a while.

Before they reached Q branch, however, a familiar head poked out of one of the offices.

“Eve,” James said, not stopping himself to rush over and pull his friend into a hug. Eve hugged him back tightly.

“Thank god you’re alive,” Eve said, releasing James and wiping a tear of relief from her eye and smiling at James.

“He’s in the branch,” Eve said, before James could even ask where Q was, “go see him.”

“Now?” James croaked.

“Go,” Eve smiled, “he’s waiting for you.”

James didn’t wait a second longer, as he forced his tired limbs to move as he took the familiar route down to Q branch. It felt like ages, yet it was mere minutes, and he found himself stumbling through the familiar glass door and into the silent hum of Q branch.

And there was Q, standing in the middle of the room like he would always do when James was on a mission, fingers poised over the laptop.

“James?” Q said. James almost collapsed, holding himself up by leaning heavily on the door handle. Relief, hope, _joy_ spread through his tired bones, making him overwhelmed with emotion.

Then he collapsed on the floor.

Q appeared at his side, scooping James into his arms and pulling him close. James inhaled deeply, the smell of Q with his tea and jumpers, sinking into the other’s embrace.

“James,” Q whispered, pressing a kiss James’ chapped lips, “you came back.”

“I couldn’t leave you,” James replied weakly, “not even at the end of the world.”


End file.
